And this was it, super typhoon high haiyan. Bring winds close to 200 miles per hour. Moving right over the islands of the philippines, churning for 48 hours straight. A humanitarian crisis of enormous scope playing out. This is what the typhoon looked like from space, stretching for 300 miles. By some estimates, the death toll, as many as 10,000. This is what it left behind. You can see the line of destruction. The trees standing to the right. Everything else in the path wiped away hundreds of thousands homeless tonight, making their way through what's left. So many looking for food for their children. This little girl in a grownup's tattered t-shirt. So many stunned by the devastation around them. Tonight, international help is on the way. Disaster aid being loaded onto planes. Here's the latest this hour. 4 million people affected. That death toll, authorities believe 10,000. The super typhoon destroys 80% of everything in its path. Abc meteorologist ginger zee standing by with the science behind the strength of this storm. But first, our team reporting from the devastation zone. Abc's gloria riviera is in the philippines. Reporter: From the air, parts of tacloban under water. The airport flattened, the roof demolished. Commercial flights to evacuate impossible. We don't have homes. Homes, we need, we need shelter, food, light. We don't have food. We don't have anything. We don't have houses. Reporter: Locals fled to the airport, desperate to escape. The military giving parents with the youngest victims priority. I want to show you right now, this is the airport departure lounge. You can see that roof ripped off, debris, flooding, and lines of people who are coming here to the airport, no guarantee. They call them chancers. Hoping for a chance to get out. They say the surge rose high on the control tower. Water and wind ripping the insides out of the terminal. The aftermath, eerily silent. The sound of devastation. Cars tangled in downed power lines. Residents young and old pulling together what they can. Some have the grim job of bringing the bodies of victims to this church. Those with injuries treated as best they can be. With reports of increasing looting, some officers back, but feeling helpless. All of the evacuation centers have collapsed or sustained huge amount of damage. So really people are living in open areas. People also really need food and water. Everyone started to loot in order to get any kind of food. Reporter: C-130 aircraft are landing and bring emergency supplies. The typhoon wreaked havoc across this province. The damage severe. The challenge now, getting to those that need help the most. But for so many here, still searching for loved ones, it seems there is only heartache. Gloria riviera, abc news, tacloban. Thanks to gloria tonight. Chancers looking for a chance. Those people at the airport. Ginger with us now. You've been tracking all of this. So many people know hurricanes and people have said this is the equivalent of a category 5? Reporter: And a strong one. David, I first want to show you this picture. Because it really gives you an idea of the huge boats pushed ashore and what was happening in the strong storm ooich. Either way, we don't have concrete number, but 170 plus sustained winds. This is what makes this a potentially historic storm. If it's 195, it will be that. And this buzz saw of a storm going through the central philippine, 48 hours, as that strength, at least category 5. That's wild to think of. We have them and they die out right away the storm surge? At least 15 to 19 feet. Some reports up to 25. That would fill a second story

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